The royal family is a part of British history and cultural identity.

Up until the 17th century, people believed that the British king or queen had a “divine(天赐的)right” to rule. This was the idea that God chose the king or queen and that he or she was therefore above the law. However, this idea was challenged during the English Civil War, when King Charles the First was put in prison and then killed in 1649.

So what role does the British royal family have today?

The Queen is head of the UK and the Commonwealth. She has important formal duties that go with her different titles. As Head of State, for example, she represents the UK on visits abroad and invites other world leaders to visit the UK；as Head of the Armed Forces in name, only she can declare when the UK is at war or when a war is over. She has to sign many government and Commonwealth documents every day.

Although the royal family does the work for the UK, there are British people called“anti-monarchists(反君主制者)”who do not believe there should be a royal family. One criticism(批评意见)is that the British people should not have to pay for the royal family with their taxes(税).

Today, the royal family works hard to be relevant(相关的)in the modern world. The Queen still gives a speech to the nation on television at Christmas, but it gets less and less formal every year；now it is even available as a podcast(播客).

In 2005, after graduating from university, Prince William spent time teaching English in Uruguay, the sort of work many ordinary young British people do in their gap years.

1.What can be concluded from the first two paragraphs?

A．The British king or queen is considered above the law.

B．The English Revolution put an end to the British royal family in 1649.

C．The British king or queen is no longer believed to rule by divine right.

D．The royal family didn’t play an important role in Britain in the 17 th century.

2.Which of the following is among the formal duties of the Queen?

A．Traveling around the UK.

B．Declaring when the world is at war.

C．Inviting other leaders to have dinner with her.

D．Signing Commonwealth documents every day.

3.With the example of Prince William in the last paragraph, the author intends to show that         .

A．Prince William is very popular in the UK

B．the royal family is trying to connect better with ordinary people

C．Prince William has made an effort to win young people’s admiration

D．many young British people do voluntary work

4.It can be inferred from the passage that ___________.

A．the royal family doesn’t have to pay taxes

B．the British people are all in favor of the royal family

C．the British people can talk to the Queen through a podcast

D．the royal family attacks republicans through media and press

In the modern world more and more people meet the problem of identity．The most interesting example is that of a so – called “banana”, which refers to an American who has an Asian face but holds Western values．
In Shanghai, there now live a group of people from abroad．They look no different from the locals and speak fluent Chinese or even Shanghai dialect, but when it comes to writing Chinese characters, they are almost illiterate（文盲）．Jack is such an example．He never learned to read or write Chinese characters, which he finds mysterious and difficult．From time to time, he files to the US as he does not feel Shanghai is where he comes from．“But when I am in the States, I feel that’s not my home either,” he said．
At De Gaulle Airport in France, there is a Swiss man who has been living in the waiting – room for a long time because he lost h is passport during his travels．He was refused entry into several countries．But when he was eventually allowed to return to Swizerland, he refused to leave the airport．His reason was very simple—“I am sure who I am．I need no acknowledgement from others,” he said during an interview．For th is reason  he was honored by the Western media as “the Hero of identity．”
As the Internet becomes more and more popular, the problem of identity becomes more serious．In a virtual world, people can have different addresses registered with different names．In the Internet chat room, even one’s gender（性别） is hard to determine．It seems that in the glohal village, people are saying hello every day to each other without knowing whom they are talking to．
What will be the next crisis（危机） of identity? With the development of cloning technology, it might be: who is the real “I”?
【小题1】What does the passage mainly talk about?

阅读下面的短文，然后按照要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。
In one way of thinking, failure is a part of life. In another way, failure may be a way towards success. The “spider story’’ often told, Robert Bruce, leader of the Scots in the 13 th century, was hiding in a cave from the English. He watched a spider spinning a web. The spider tried to reach across a rough place in the rock. He tried six times without success. On the seventh time he made it and went to spin his web. Bruce is said to have taken heart and to have gone on to defeat the English. Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, made hundreds of models that failed before he found the right way to make one. Abraham Lincoln, the famous American president, lost elections more times than he won them! He never gave up in the face of failure but kept trying and was eventually elected to Congress and then the presidency.
So what? First, always think about your failure. What caused it? Were conditions right? Were you in top from yourself? What can you change so things will go right next time?
Second, is the goal you’re trying to reach the right one? Try to do some thinking about what your real goals may be. Think about this question. “If I do succeed this time, where will it get me?’’ This may help you prevent failure in things you shouldn’t be doing anyway.
The third thing to bear in mind about failure is that it’s part of life. Learn to “live with yourself” even though you may have failed. Remember, “You can’t win them all.”
【写作内容】
1、概括短文的内容要点，该部分字数大约30词左右；
2、以“Is Failure a Bad Thing”为题写一篇文章，包含以下内容要点，该部分的字数大约120词左右。
⑴失败是生活中的常事
⑵人们对失败所持的不同态度
⑶你对失败的认识
【写作要求】
1、可以使用实例或其他论述方法支持你的观点，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不要抄袭阅读材料中的句子
2、作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。
                                                                      
                                                                      
                                                                      
                                                                      
                                                                      
                                                                  

It is not often realized that women held a high place in southern European societies in the 10 th and 11 th centuries. As wife, the woman was protected by the setting up of a dowry (嫁妆) or decimum. Admittedly, the purpose of this was to protect her against the risk of desertion (遗弃)，but in reality its function in the social and family life of the time was much more important. The decimum was the wife’s right to receive a tenth of all her husband’s property. The wife had the right to withhold consent, in all transactions the husband would make, And more than just a right: the documents showed that she enjoyed a real power of decision, equal to that of her husband. In no case did the documents indicate any degree of difference in the legal status of husband and wife.

The wife shared in the management of her husband’s personal property, but the opposite was not always true. Women seemed perfectly prepared to defend their own inheritance(遗产，继承物)against husbands who tried to exceed their rights, and on occasion they showed a fine fighting spirit. A case in point is that of Maria, Vivas, a Catalan woman of Barcelona. Having agreed with her husband Miro to sell a field she had inherited, for the needs of the household, she insisted on compensation. None being offered, she succeeded in dragging her husband to the scribe to have a contract duly drawn up assigning her a piece of land from Miro’s personal inheritance. The unfortunate husband was obliged to agree, as the contract says, “for the sake of peace.” Either through the dowry or through being hot-tempered, the Catalan wife knew how to win herself, within the context of the family, a powerful economic position.

A decimum was      .

       A. the wife’s inheritance from her father    

       B. a gift of money to the new husband 

       C. a written contract            

       D. the wife’s right to receive one-tenth of her husband’s property

In the society described in the passage, the legal standing of the wife in marriage was      .

       A. higher than that of her husband       B. lower than that of her husband

       C. the same as that of her husband D. higher than that of a single woman

What compensation did Maria Vivas get for the field?

       A. Some of the land Miro had inherited.      B. A tenth of Miro’s land.

       C. Money for household expenses.       D. Money from Miro’s inheritance.

Which of the following is Not mentioned as an effect of the dowry system?

       A. The husband had to share the power of decision in marriage.

       B. The wife was protested from desertion.

       C. The wife gained a powerful economic position.

       D. The husband was given control over his wife’s property.

阅读下面的短文，然后按照要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。

In one way of thinking, failure is a part of life. In another way, failure may be a way towards success. The “spider story’’ often told, Robert Bruce, leader of the Scots in the 13 th century, was hiding in a cave from the English. He watched a spider spinning a web. The spider tried to reach across a rough place in the rock. He tried six times without success. On the seventh time he made it and went to spin his web. Bruce is said to have taken heart and to have gone on to defeat the English. Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, made hundreds of models that failed before he found the right way to make one. Abraham Lincoln, the famous American president, lost elections more times than he won them! He never gave up in the face of failure but kept trying and was eventually elected to Congress and then the presidency.

So what? First, always think about your failure. What caused it? Were conditions right? Were you in top from yourself? What can you change so things will go right next time?

Second, is the goal you’re trying to reach the right one? Try to do some thinking about what your real goals may be. Think about this question. “If I do succeed this time, where will it get me?’’ This may help you prevent failure in things you shouldn’t be doing anyway.

The third thing to bear in mind about failure is that it’s part of life. Learn to “live with yourself” even though you may have failed. Remember, “You can’t win them all.”

【写作内容】

1、概括短文的内容要点，该部分字数大约30词左右；

2、以“Is Failure a Bad Thing”为题写一篇文章，包含以下内容要点，该部分的字数大约120词左右。

⑴失败是生活中的常事

⑵人们对失败所持的不同态度

⑶你对失败的认识

【写作要求】

1、可以使用实例或其他论述方法支持你的观点，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不要抄袭阅读材料中的句子

2、作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。